You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Texas
Public Information Act, chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned
ID# 124868.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office (the "district attorney") received a request for
the "State's file respecting Mr. Carrier's offense of murder." You have released certain
documents to the requestor, but contend that the remaining requested information is excepted
from public disclosure pursuant to sections 552.101 and 552.108(a)(3) of the Government
Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the documents submitted.

You first contend that the documents you submitted to this office as Exhibit A constitute
"work product" that is excepted from public disclosure pursuant to section 552.108(a)(3).
Section 552.108(a)(3) provides that information is excepted from public disclosure under the
Public Information Act if it is information that is either (A) prepared by an attorney
representing the state in anticipation of or in the course of preparing for criminal litigation
or (B) if it is information that reflects the mental impressions or legal reasoning of an
attorney representing the state. You describe the contents of Exhibit A as consisting of
handwritten notes of prosecutors, intra-office reports, the cover folder of the prosecutor's
file, the D.I.M.S. sheet, and draft copies of subpoenas containing handwritten notations.
Assuming these documents were either created by an attorney representing the state, or by
an individual working at the direction of such an attorney, we agree that the district attorney
may withhold the documents contained in Exhibit A pursuant to section 552.108(a)(3).

You contend that the documents in Exhibit B are excepted from public disclosure pursuant
to section 552.101 of the Government Code, which protects "information considered to be
confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Exhibit B
consists of criminal history record information ("CHRI"). We agree that the district attorney
must withhold pursuant to statutory law all criminal history information obtained from the
TCIC and NCIC. The dissemination of CHRI obtained from the NCIC network is limited
by federal law. See 28 C.F.R. § 20.1; Open Records Decision No. 565 at 10-12 (1990). The
federal regulations allow each state to follow its individual law with respect to CHRI it
generates. Open Records Decision No. 565 at 10-12 (1990). Sections 411.083(b)(1) and
411.089(a) of the Government Code authorize a criminal justice agency to obtain CHRI;
however, a criminal justice agency may not release the CHRI except to another criminal
justice agency for a criminal justice purpose. Gov't Code § 411.089(b)(1). Thus, any CHRI
generated by the federal government or another state may not be made available to the
requestor except in accordance with federal regulations. Furthermore, any CHRI obtained
from the Texas Department of Public Safety or any other criminal justice agency must be
withheld as provided by Government Code chapter 411, subchapter F. The district attorney
therefore must withhold any criminal history information obtained from the TCIC and NCIC
pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code.

You next contend that the victim impact statements in Exhibit C are confidential pursuant
to section 18(a) of article 42.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 18(a) of article
42.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been recodified and is now section 508.313 of
the Government Code. Section 508.313 of the Government Code provides:

(a) All information obtained and maintained, including a victim
protest letter or other correspondence, a victim impact statement,
a list of inmates eligible for release on parole, and an arrest record
of an inmate, is confidential and privileged if the information
relates to:

(1) an inmate of the institutional division subject to
release on parole, release to mandatory supervision,
or executive clemency;

(2) a release; or

(3) a person directly identified in any proposed plan
of release for an inmate.

This provision accords confidentiality to the records of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Open
Records Decision No. 190 at 2 (1978); see also Attorney General Opinion H-427 (1974); Open
Records Decision No. 33 (1974). It does not, however, make confidential records in the custody
of the district attorney. Thus, the victim impact statements are not confidential pursuant to
section 508.313 of the Government Code.

However, the victim impact statement contains information excepted from public disclosure by
common-law privacy. Section 552.101 of the Government Code also protects information
coming within the common-law right to privacy. Industrial Found. v. Texas Indus. Accident Bd.,
540 S.W.2d 668 (Tex. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 931 (1977). Common-law privacy protects
information if it is highly intimate or embarrassing, such that its release would be highly
objectionable to a reasonable person, and it is of no legitimate concern to the public. Id. at
683-85. We have marked the information you must withhold from Exhibit C under common-law
privacy.

You assert that Exhibit D consists of pre-sentence investigation reports and information obtained
in connection with a pre-sentence investigation, which are confidential under section 9(j) of
article 42.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 9(j) of article 42.12 provides, in
pertinent part:

A report and all information obtained in connection with
a presentence investigation or postsentence report are
confidential and may be released only to those persons and
under those circumstances authorized under Subsections
(d), (e), (f), (h), (k), and (l) of this section and as directed
by the judge for the effective supervision of the defendant.

It does not appear that any of the exceptions to release of the documents contained in Exhibit D
are applicable in this instance. We therefore conclude that the district attorney must withhold
from disclosure the information contained in Exhibit D.

We are resolving this matter with an informal letter ruling rather than with a published open
records decision. This ruling is limited to the particular records at issue under the facts presented
to us in this request and should not be relied on as a previous determination regarding any other
records. If you have any questions regarding this ruling, please contact our office.